Review by Ian Keogh
There’s a heartwarming introduction from Ricardo Sanchez recounting how he was accompanied by his daughter Adara to the comic convention in San Diego talking about what he hoped to pitch to editors. She was drawing on her tablet when a character caught his eye, and she explained about Shy Ninja, a socially awkward girl who takes ninja classes to boost her confidence. That was the pitch an editor went for, and so Shy Ninja became a family collaboration.
In the world the Sanchez’s create ninjas have actually been responsible for momentous events over the 20th century, but their reputation is no longer as formidable. The hope of the Secret Ninja Council is that student Rena Vellanueva is the culmination of a six hundred year old prophecy of a girl who will become the Ghost. Observing her in school that doesn’t seem very likely. Although knowledgeable, her anxiety issues are considerable, yet on a one to one basis she can be combative and sarcastic. When told there will be no more video games until she joins a club outside school, Ninja School is what she chooses. Despite her scepticism a trick quickly learned proves a massive confidence boost.
Rena is perhaps a little too assertive in private to convince some readers, but overall she is a sympathetic character, and her joy at learning a viable technique transmits. That’s also down to artist Arianna Florean, whose personality based cartooning brings out the entire emotional spectrum.
For all the foreshadowing about prophecy and the need for the Ghost it’s some while before Rena progresses beyond training sessions, and apart from the injuries sustained by her friend there’s never any great sense of danger. However, the writers are very likely to slip something significant right by most young readers and there’s big change in emphasis just after halfway through when Shy Ninja becomes quite the thriller. It remains a generally cheery and upbeat story with neat solutions supplied for a number of problems, and should appeal to a young adult audience.
